Guy buys $50k guitar for $4k, gets called out for having "zero guilt": '[I'm] refusing to sell it back'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 22, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

When you get a fantastic deal on a purchase, you might want to brag about it. It's the reason that when someone complements that dress you got on sale, you immediately tell them, "I got it for $7!" Or when a house guest compliments your sugar and flour containers in your kitchen, you might brag that you got them for $.50 each at a yard sale. A deal is a deal, and as humans, we're hard-wired to save our cash and get the best price possible whenever we can. 

The better the deal, the better you'll feel about it. But if something sounds too good to be true, it very well may be. This person obtained a guitar worth $50k for just $4k! That's an incredible steal, so it's no wonder they felt like bragging about it. However, the person they got it from was a guy selling off his late father's possessions. The seller admitted that he looked up the price of the guitar before selling it, but he just didn't realize it was worth quite that much. He then went scorched-earth on the buyer and their wife. All in all, it can't be worth the money just to watch all your friends and coworkers turn on you, thinking you're taking advantage of a grieving son. However, no one in the comments can agree on who was right and who was wrong, so check out the full story, updates, and commenter opinions down below. 

Next, check out some restaurants that had patrons seeing red, like one diner who discovered that "This restaurant covered up the 'No Tip' option with a sticker to force tipping." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10483322880
    via Jose López Franco on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    "AITA for buying a $50,000 guitar for $4,000 and refusing to sell it back when the buyer found out the real value?"

    This happened a while back. My wife and I still talk about it every once in a while. She's on my side and most of our friends and family are. However when it happened it was like WW3 between us and her co-workers and others.
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 03
    Here we go...I've been playing the guitar for 22 years. I know guitar values and whatnot very well. I'm very into the guitar market. At my wife's old company she was hanging out with co- workers one day after work and she mentioned that I play guitar. A co-worker who I guess is very popular at work said that his dad passed away and he was selling his dads things. His dad had a guitar and asked my wife if I'd be interested in it. My wife texted me
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 04
    and I said to have him send me the info on the guitar and the price. The next day he texted me the pics and price. It was a 1952 Telecaster in mint condition. He had the original receipts which was crazy! (That's how I knew the date). I asked what he wanted for it and he said he "looked up Telecasters online and he thinks $4,000 is fair". I texted back, "I'll take it for $4,000" and went to pick it up. The guitar had no sentimental value to him at all.
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 05
    Here's the issue at hand. The guitar was/is worth approximately $50,000 depending on the buyer and I knew it. When I got the guitar I told my wife the price and what it was worth. She was floored. Fast forward two weeks her co-worker tells my wife he just found out what the guitar was actually worth from a family friend and wanted it back. She said, "well he really likes the guitar and he knew it was worth $50,000 which is why he was floored you offered it to him for
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 06
    $4,000. He really likes it and I doubt he will sell it back, but you can ask." (Probably not the smartest thing for her to say, but she was caught off guard and it's not her fault or problem). He contacted me and asked to buy it back. I said that it's not for sale. He then said I scammed him and he was going to "sue me and take my wife to HR for being a part of the scam." Which was nuts, but he actually did contact HR. They were cool about it and said it's
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 07
    not their problem. It's between him and me. Over the next few months he made things very uncomfortable for my wife at work. He would bug her constantly about it. She eventually had to go to HR for harassment and they actually let him go (She complained twice and he was warned and didn't stop). He's contacted me several times about it so I got a restraining order for harassment
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 08
    too. I blocked him too. I haven't heard from him in about a year. AITA? UPDATE: Well this post blew up way beyond what I was expecting. It looks like I was voted Not The A_h_le. There's over 5000 comments. I couldn't read them all, but I did read a lot. Just to clear up some things. I left
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 09
    somethings out because I didn't want it to influence opinions and really wanted it to be about me buying a guitar at significantly lower market value vs the people in the story. I did include the fact that the guy was harassing my wife at work not to make the guy sound bad, but because I thought it was relevant to the story. Here's some specific details I chose not to include:
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 10
    The guy and his dad were not close at all. So those people saying he was grieving and I took advantage of him, that is 100% not the case. When I went to get the guitar he was telling me he hadn't talked to his dad in six years and was actually annoyed he had to deal with a funeral.
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 11
    The dad bought the guitar new and never played it. Luckily it was stored in a closet and not in a basement or attic. There's no issue with the wood or electronics. It plays like a dream and I couldn't be happier. I am not selling the guitar to the son or anyone. It will be with me for a long time. I'm in my 30's so maybe in 30 years it will find a new home.
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 12
    I would have MAYBE considered giving the guy more money or giving him one of my guitars to sell on his own, but I decided not to do that after he left a terrible voicemail on my phone the day he found out the real value. He demanded it back like he was entitled to an object he sold fair and square, called me a POS, called my wife a POS and said he would "do bad things" if I didn't sell him the guitar back.
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 13
    And to those people who say they would have told the guy the real value. That's a load of horse sh. If you went to a garage sale/estate sale and saw an item worth $5000 priced at $50 there's not a snowballs chance in h I you would walk up to the homeowner and tell them they mis-priced it. You'd buy the item and then tell all your friends and family what a great score you
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 14
    got! Don't even kid yourself like you wouldn't do that. I don't feel bad about buying an awesome guitar at a steal of a price. I was curios what others would think and it looks like I'm not the a h le so thank you reddit. I can play the guitar with zero guilt now. Not like I felt guilty before, but now my feelings are justified.
    via u/fhdksTHROWAWAY
  • 15
    Cheezburger Image 10483325952
    via Jefferson Santos on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 16

    People's opinions on this were all over the map

    Pe... Nta. When you sell something it is your responsibility to know or determine what its worth not the person you are selling to.
    via u/Peabody77

    Some said the buyer did nothing wrong, while others thought it was an impolite thing to do. He didn't technically do anything wrong, but he potentially took advantage of someone going through grief, which just seems unethical and perhaps bad for the soul. 

  • 17
    agd1516 ESH. You blatantly took advantage of him and his ignorance. Hesks because he didn't research it enough, and then harassed you and your wife to the point it got him fired. Just a whole messy situation.
    via u/agd1516
  • 18
    I don't think you should sell it back to him. You paid a price he gave you (bad on him). You just seriously took advantage of him (bad on you).
    via u/agd1516
  • 19
    Jumpy-Jelly YTA. I can't believe how many votes on here for the opposite! This guy sold his late dad's possession in good faith and you took advantage. This isn't even a random person, a colleague and assume some kind of friend? For everyone going on about how the guy should have "researched"
    via u/Jumpy-Jelly
  • 20
    properly, if he doesn't know anything about guitars he probably had no way of knowing what he was looking for. What a thing to do, you should have told him what it was worth.
    via u/Jumpy-Jelly
  • 21
    [deleted] YTA - 100% without question that was an ah le move, doesn't mean you have to give it back. The non a hole move would be to tell him its value before purchasing, not knowingly take it for almost nothing.. the majority of people would have done the exact same thing in your situation, doesn't mean it isnt an a hole move.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    AllTh3Naps I vote NTA. Yeah, it really S ks for them, but they should have done a better job researching the value.
    via u/AllTh3Naps
  • 23
    patem1997 YTA, 100% took advantage of the poor clueless dude and you know it.
    via u/patem1997
  • 24
    drulenarendes NTA. He didn't fully research the value of the guitar before selling it to you. That's on him. Also, harassing you and your wife (and getting fired over it) trying to get it back is just so wrong.
    via u/drulenarendes

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